


Not as Lost Violent Souls

by psithurism



Series: Space BFFs [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aftermath, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Gen, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Spoilers, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-29 01:40:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14462337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psithurism/pseuds/psithurism
Summary: Six years, and it has come to this.





	Not as Lost Violent Souls

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for the movie! Title is taken from 'The Hollow Men' by T.S. Eliot.

Titan is a sprawling wasteland of crumbled edifices, barren not of scraps but of life, and if Tony tilted his head a bit to his left he would see how this corpse of a world had once been a prosperous civilization.

Six years.

Six years, and it has come to this.

 

+

 

“Where are you going?”

The crunch of boots on metal and debris stops and Tony hears Nebula turning around towards his direction.

“I will have my revenge. I will avenge Gamora.”

_ Avenge. _ The word summons an inexplicable itch inside his body, crawling downwards from head to toe, an unshakeable feeling that cannot find relief, and Tony scrabbles up an energy to exhale, stuttered and removed, lost into the ether.

“Why?” he finds himself asking. “He already won, didn’t he?”

The footsteps resume, but instead of further and further away the sound crescendoes until it halts just a few feet away from him. The itch doesn’t fade; it intensifies.

“I don’t care. I won’t stop until I kill him.”

And wasn’t that what they tried to accomplish just moments ago? Stop Thanos from gaining infinite power, to the point where Tony allied himself with misfits and sorcerers – people whom on a normal day he wouldn’t even want to talk to.

He finally turns to look at Nebula, at the way she regards him, a challenge amplified by her bladed gaze and clenched fists. He can still feel Peter in his hands, the memory of his weight, hitched breaths, and it’s as though something carved out the insides of his body, leaving him emptied and hollowed, drained of everything that keeps him alive.

Tony expires an ugly laugh. “Good luck, then. Tell him I said hi.”

“I don’t need luck. I need him dead.” A pause, and then she heads back to her original path, head tilted to the side. The yellow skylight spills into her blue skin, washing away the harshness of the anger that lines her profile.

“I haven’t got the time to deal with your grief. You’re not the only one who lost somebody today.”

For a fleeting moment, fury filled the emptiness inside Tony, overflowing in its incandescence. But it rushes out just as quick, and Tony remembers Strange’s words and he clings to them like his own heart.

He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath. Rises.

“No, you’re right,” he says, and Nebula waits, halfway facing him. “And besides, you need someone who can build the best spacejet around here.”

 

+

 

It’s not the best spacejet, since Nebula crashed hers coming here, but it’s cobbled enough to get out of the planet and look for a better one somewhere out there.

The space is a vast, black blanket with pinpricks of sidereal light coating it all over. Like a colossal maw about to devour you, and Tony is staring into its dark infinity, treacherous but beautiful.

“Tell me you have a plan,” he says, partly to distract himself from continuing to look outside.

Nebula glances at him from the pilot’s seat. “We find Thanos. I kill him.”

A beat, then: “Wow.” Followed by an exhale. “That plan sucks.”

Nebula glares at him. “Do you have a better idea?”

He blinks and slides his gaze away. Silence descends like a cotton down, and Tony chooses instead to monitor their trajectory. But then:

“We need all the help we can get.”

The glare recedes, replaced by a narrowed and wary look. “And?”

Tony takes a deep breath. “I figured we could stop by a certain place, pick up some people who could help us. You know. Allies.”

“All right,” Nebula says, after a moment. “Where are we heading?”

Unbidden, Tony holds his left hand, thinking of the people he left on Earth, if they’re still there, looking for him, waiting for him. Remembering him. He knows that this is war, and it still isn’t over, not when Nebula and he are still alive, not when there’s still someone out there who wants to continue fighting. Not when Strange traded the Time Stone for Tony’s life. Not when he believed that this is the right path to the conclusion they need.

Hope is not a plan, but it can be the first step.

Tony leans back on his seat, closes his eyes. Says:

“Home.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thus, the grudging friendship between Tony and Nebula commences in their space road trip. A friendship forged by loss, by a common enemy, and a common goal; where Nebula provides Tony knowledge of space (life, technology, and survival), and where Tony fixes Nebula whenever she gets damaged (maybe even an upgrade or two?). I'm all for the possibility of their becoming belligerent space bffs.


End file.
